


Oneirology

by ObsessiveGeekBoy (Obsessivegeekboy)



Category: SPN, Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2020-10-10 20:16:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20533970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obsessivegeekboy/pseuds/ObsessiveGeekBoy
Summary: Another case for the Winchesters, witches. Nothing out of the ordinary.Until, one of the witnesses recognizes them, and knows what they do. Now all of a sudden, the brother's duo is now a barber’s quartet. How will the 4 of them handle this strange case?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fairylights_and_Stormynights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairylights_and_Stormynights/gifts).

The throbbing of music in the air finally stopped, and it was just the drunken laughter and comments. As the last customers left Cherry’s, Reese flopped down on one of the chairs that were littered around the dancefloor.

Although he was the head bouncer, he let the others deal with the final customers, and the dancers took care of themselves.  
Reese was starting to get sick of the job, the only thing that made it worth it was the nights when his favourite dancer was on, normally he would convince her to stay a little later with ease, she needed the money after all, but he’d talked to her before the night started, and he’d seen how dark the circles under her eyes were and told her to get some rest. He wanted to stay in her good books afterwards, and that got him bonus points. He closed his eyes and just allowed himself to relax for a moment.  
“You okay for lock up?” one of the older bounces, Zyler, tapped Reese on the shoulder, clearing itching to go home. “I can lock you in so you’ll just need to lock up the back entrance and check everything’s off. I need to be home earlyish tonight.”  
Reese sighed and pushed his long red dreads away from his forehead. Joy. More time at this place. “Yeah, whatever man.” Zyler gave a thumbs up and he was gone, the telltale sound of a door locking preceding him.  
Reese sighed again and got up, he would make the rounds as quickly as possible. He started away from the tables and dance floor, heading to the bar. Maybe he would take a swig of something strong as compensation for the hour he was being made to work. It was so dark the cameras wouldn’t be able to see and that’s if they weren’t operating.  
He had just reached the bar and while making a customary check to see the taps were off and nothing was left open when out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement.  
Reese spun around. The dance floor lights were on. They were fainter than when customers were using it but they were on. He frowned.  
“Alright which punk is doing that.” He advanced to the light. “Zyler if this is your idea of a joke I’m gonna break your legs.” Something moved in the dark to the side of him and he hastened his pace to the dance floor, needing the light.  
“Who's out there?” He called, the changing colour of the dance floor lighting the world around him. “Come on, who. You know this is trespassing.” Something wet hit his hand from above. Reese glanced up hesitantly.  
Nothing.  
Great a trespasser and now a leaky roof. He needed to stop watching so many horror movies. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.  
Then shape moved in the darkness again. More dark wet dropped down. It hit the dance floor this time. Distracted he looked down. What was that?   
He couldn’t tell what it was, in the dark, it was too hard to tell.  
It was practically pouring down now and from what he could tell the thing in the dark was coming closer. The world swam and he didn’t realise how light-headed he was until his knees hit the floor. It was coming closer.  
Reese bent over. The black was coming from his face. His cheeks were wet and sticky. He coughed and as he did so a hand grabbed his neck from behind. He was thrown back and the dark figure was pushing something into his mouth.  
Reese tried to resist. He wanted to but he couldn’t. The dark liquid was still spilling from his face and he was too weak. He tried to cough up more liquid but it was stopped. He could only see the dark figure above him. As everything faded to black, the figure hissed out, “That’s what you get. Murderer.”

~~~

The heat was stifling in Normal, Illinois. The August sun was beating down on the tarmac in the cul-de-sac, making it something akin to lava.  
The same neighbours waved to each other, the same kids played in their front yard, dogs barked, birds chirped, everything was normal in Normal.  
People pass through Normal every day, many not even stopping for a pit-stop, but one car did.  
A charcoal black, 1967 chevy impala had found its way to the curb outside one of the houses.  
From the outside, nothing was that significant about this house. It was the same build as the other houses in the neighbourhood, but it did have some individuality, as houses tend to have.   
The door was a bright buttercup yellow that seemed to smile at you as you approached it, and the letterbox was the same, the silver numbers ‘69’ shining in the summer sun.  
The yard was filled with Monstera plants and palms, a small cottage style garden leads its way up to the stone doorsteps.  
Two tall, dark figures stepped out of the impala, their eyes covered by dark shades as they looked to the bright house. They glanced to each other before making their way through the white picket fence and up the stone path.  
~~~  
Raine was confused at the knocking coming from the door, as far as she was aware, none of them were expecting anyone, she threw a quick glance up the stairs and out the back door, but no one else seemed to be coming.

“One second!” she called as she quickly dusted off her hands on the apron, clouds of white dusting the floor, and tucked her dip-dyed hair behind her ear, the neon blue ends also being covered in flour.

She rushed to the door, and pulled it open, coming nose to chest with two cheap suited men, with golden badges in hand.  
She craned her head up to look up at them, taking a small step back.  
The tallest one, a man with shoulder-length brown hair and a hulking moose of a man, removed his sunglasses and tucked the badge away in his suit pocket.   
“Good afternoon Miss, I’m agent Young, and this is my partner agent Rudd,” He gestured to the slightly shorter man, who had sandy, spiky hair, and a generous sprinkling of freckles dusted under his mirrored glasses, “We wanted to talk to you about a Reese Williams?” Agent young added and drew Raine’s attention to him. 

Raine had taken on a defensive, formal position. She took a step back and opened the sunny door wider. “Please, come in.” She said quietly, and after the two men entered she closed the door and lead them to the living room.  
The first impression the boys had when they entered the house, was that they stepped into a forest.  
Plants filled the room, hanging plants, floor plants, shelves filled with plants. The room was colourful and filled with many knick-knacks and books. It was...homey.  
“Please, make yourselves at home. Would you like me to ask my roommates down?” she asked as she paused in between the door frame to the kitchen, “and do you fellas want some tea? Or coffee? I’d offer you a beer, but you guys won’t be drinking on duty, right?”

As the boys sat on the couch, agent Rudd opened his mouth to reply but was met with a swift stomp on the toes. He changed his answer. “Coffee, black,” he mumbled out as he leant down to rub his sore foot. 

“Coffee with two sugars, please.” said agent Young, "and would your roommates be able to answer our questioning on Mr Williams as well?”

“Of course,” Raine replied, still facing the two agents, “Reese comes round all the time, we’re all friends.” She shot a glance down the hall. “They could answer some questions while I get you two some snacks and whatnot.”

“Your roommates' help would be appreciated but the snacks really aren’t nes-” She cut him off by heading down the hall, and calling up the stairs and out a door leading to what the boys presumed was a garage.

“Belle? Hailey? Can you guys come down here? We have company.” When they decided they were alone, the two agents shared a look.

“Do you think they could be in the same coven?” Young asked, or better known as Sam. “The girl who welcomed us in-”

“Raine,” Rudd, also known as Dean, cut in. “although her hair and eyes are different, she’s definitely the one from the picture,” Dean said as he laid back on the couch. The couch was old, probably thrifted, and part of him was relieved not to see any stains on it.

“Right, Raine,” Sam began again, mildly annoyed at being interrupted, “she had a pentagram necklace, and judging from the flowery and frilly apron I doubt she’s some hardcore emo or satanist.” He stated as he glanced around the room, just like the outside and the entryway, it was bright and full of plants, decorated to be very personal and alive.

As Dean opened his mouth to respond, he was interrupted for the second time within the past ten minutes by Raine yelling at someone. 

“Hailey I swear to a higher power I will kill you if you do not get inside.” a mumbled response. “No I do not care about the carbur-whatever is leaking! We have guests and it’s rude to not come in.” a slightly more offended mumble. “Just come in. it’s about Reese. I’m gonna go get Belle, They’re in the living room.”

The boys got to see a flash of flowers and blue before hearing footsteps going upstairs. Dean raised an eyebrow at Sam, and Sam just shrugged in response.  
A few moments later, the human version of a grease-covered rag walked into the living room, she came in with a beer bottle in hand and sent a nod of acknowledgement to the boys before sitting down on a stool. “Hi.”  
“Hello,” Sam began, “We’re agent Rudd and Agent Young,” he gestured to Dean and himself for their respective fake names.”  
“Hailey Fire,” she replied, she took a sip from her drink before something caught her eyes through the window and she gasped and raced the window. The boys got a whiff of motor oil before she glued herself to the glass. “DUDE! Is that an impala??? 1960’s, maybe ‘65? 67?” She asked excitedly. 

Sam was more than a little shell shocked, but Dean puffed up like a proud mother bird. “‘67, her name’s Baby.” 

“I can see why!” Hailey said with glee. “She’s absolutely gorgeous!” She said with absolute respect and awe.

Just before Dean and Hailey could engage in intense car talk, another girl entered the room.

She had long light blonde hair and was wearing a cute 1950’s style cut of dress, which was decorated with tiny devils posing with little pitchforks. “Hello, I’m Belle Tower.” She said as she made her way to sit on the couch opposite the boys.  
“Agents Rudd and Young.” Dean clarified.  
“Like nirvana,” Hailey added, a grin on her face as she sipped from the bottle, moving once again to the stool, sitting behind Belle, resting her arms on her shoulders. 

Finally, Raine entered the room, with a large plate being used as a tray and 5 slices of hot mud cake, and 5 cups of varying size and silliness. “Do you boys have any allergies?” she asked as she first handed the girls their cakes and drinks. She received two no’s and handed them their share before sitting down herself, next to Belle on the couch.  
“So you said this was about Reese?” She prompted, and all three girls gave their full attention.

Sam and Dean yet again shared a look, both of them knew what they were thinking. ‘This is the worst part of the research.’ Finally, Sam turned to face the girls first. “Mr Williams, your friend?” he was met with a chorus of nods. “Well, he passed away last night.”  
All three girls were clearly shocked, but the tallest was the first to crack. Raine’s eyes filled with tears, and you could practically see the storm of emotions in her as she put down her drink and cake onto the table and just curled up on herself, she buried her head in her knees.  
Hailey vaulted herself over the couch and cuddled close to her, as Belle gently rubbed soothing circles on her back.  
The brothers stayed silent as they let the news sink in, it was clear that they needed some time.  
After a few moments, Raine stood up and excused herself. The four remaining in the room were silent before Hailey piped up. “Ok, so why is the FBI here for some small-town boy…” she hesitated before continuing. “Surely that’s what the police are for?”  
“Well, the thing is, we think he was killed,” Sam said as he placed his plate (cake untouched) on the table. 

“But that still doesn’t make sense.” Belle cut in, “Shouldn’t that be the local police’s job?”   
“That’s just the thing,” Dean sighed as he traded his empty plate for Sam’s one, “We believe that there was something darker going on.” He said with crumbs around his mouth, and Sam gave him a look of disgust.  
“Do you know if he had any enemies? Bad history with anyone? Someone who would want to hurt him?” Sam leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and interlacing his fingers together.  
The two girls thought before Belle shook her head and Hailey sighed. “He was a good guy, a little pervy, a little shady, but that’s what comes with his… line of work. But he was a good dude.”  
“He was pretty sweet,” Belle added, “he always kept an eye out for us, and would always help if we were ever in a tight spot.”

“He worked at Cherry’s, is that correct?” Sam prompted, at no response, he hesitantly added: “do you girls?”  
Both Hailey and Belle looked mildly offended, and grossed out.  
“They don't, but I do.” Raine entered the room, her face clean, but her eyes a little puffy as she settled between her two friends. Both of them grabbed her hands and giving them a gentle squeeze.  
“He treats-” she swallowed hard, “He treated the dancer’s well. He worked as security. If anyone tried to touch or was getting too handsy, he would step in and kick the creep out.” She hesitated and glanced at her two friends, then lowered her head in shame.  
Sam could tell she was hiding something and was about to try and coax it out of her, but Dean bet him to the punch.  
“I am sorry to miss, But we need you to tell us anything that could be classed as useful information. Withholding anything is a serious federal offence.”

Sam quickly added on “it can also help us catch whoever did this to him, and bring them to justice.” Same inwardly groaned at how cheesy that sounded, but that didn’t stop the girls from giving him a weak laugh.  
Raine sighed, she looked to Sam with a silent plea. “Actually, I just remembered I need to go grab something from the back yard, and I need an extra pair of hands, I would be happy to talk to you about anything you need during that though?”  
Dean, Belle and Hailey all looked rather confused, but Sam was quick to stand. “Uh, sure! Happy to help. Agent Rudd,” He turned to Dean, “I trust you can question these girls without me?”  
Through more basically telepathic communication, the elder Winchester nodded and Raine stood and lead Sam from the Room.  
Dean coughed and cleared his throat awkwardly. “Would you ladies mind telling me where the bathroom is?”

Belle nodded. “Upstairs, two doors on the right, do you want me to show you?” She offered out of sheer politeness, not particularly wanting to stand.

“Uh, no I got it. Thanks.” Dean said as he stood and quickly exited from the room.

Belle and Hailey stared at his retreating figure, and as soon as they lost sight of him quickly huddled closer together and started talking in harsh whispers.  
“Think it could be a coven thing?” Hailey said as she glanced over her shoulder, checking no one would enter the room again.  
“Don’t think so,” Belle responded, “Reese’s coven was well known for being fair and not encroaching on other witches territories, they didn’t even harm anyone.”  
“Yeah, I know that,” snorted Hailey, “of course they didn’t hurt anyone, we would have dealt with them otherwise.” Belle poked her.  
“Hey, I know that,” the taller one of the two sighed and leant back on the couch, rubbing her face. “I’m just struggling to think straight.”  
Hailey sighed and nuzzled closer to her friend, resting her face on the younger girls chest. “I know. It’s some pretty hard news huh?”  
Belle sighed and patted Hailey’s head soothingly. “Yeah.” The two sat in silence, just thinking things over and reassuring one another for a long while before Belle sighed. “I’ve gotta go to work.” Hailey let out a loud groan and hid her face further in the taller’s chest.  
“Nooooo, my pillowwwwsssss.” she whined like a petulant child as Belle worked at removing the grease monkey’s iron grip from her.  
“No, I can’t be late. One more late absence and they’ll fire me,” she said sternly as she stood and wiped off and grease that got on her skin, thankfully none got on her dress.  
“Not my fault you slept in several times, why am I getting punished.” Hailey groaned as she flopped onto the couch, defeated.  
Belle grinned, “You really going to complain about me sleeping?” She knew she’d won by the defeated groan the other girl gave.  
Belle sighed as she made her way to the door, “Think you could pick me up afterwards? You know the library bus takes forever.”  
“Yeah, sure! I just need to clean up some things on the car real quick and I can grab you no problem.”  
The two girls said their goodbyes and Hailey sat by herself before deciding that she didn’t like how long ‘agent Rudd’ was taking.  
She stood and slowly crept up the stairs, keeping her footsteps quiet, and was soon paid off by hearing doors open and shut with signs of frustration, she peaked the tip of her oil-stained face around the corner, and saw dean close yet another door, she heard him mumble ‘nothing’ and decided she was going to spook him.

She crept up behind him as he opens another door, and stood behind him, as he closed it, she sighed, “didn’t think our bathroom was that hard to find.”  
Dean turned around, and had tensed his muscles for a fight, but relaxed upon seeing the short girl. “Oh, yeah, sorry about that. Horrible sense of direction.” He laughed weakly, rubbing his neck and avoiding eye contact with her.  
Hailey didn’t buy it but had other questions that were needing answering. “Ok, sure. Anyway, surely there are more details about how Reese passed?” She pressed, folding her arms.  
Dean sighed, “what do you want to hear?” he wasn’t in the mood to have to deal with some girl crying on him. Hailey’s eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. She could tell he was pitying her and it annoyed the shit out of her.  
“Everything.” She said sternly, and Dean got the message. He sighed again, rubbed his face in annoyance and began.  
“Reese was found in Cherry’s, apparently the cleaning crew came in the next morning and found him dead on the dancefloor,” Hailey quirked a small smile at the accidental Daath reference before prompting him to continue, and when he hesitated she sighed.  
“Just because Raine started bawling her eyes out doesn’t mean I will, I was close enough with Reese to call him a friend, but we didn’t exactly share a lot in common.”  
Dean nodded and continued with uncertainty. “We think he was...poisoned. He was found with a small cotton bag in his mouth with different types of plants in it, he had a dark liquid coming out of his eyes, mouth, nose and ears.” he regarded Hailey again, and when she showed no sign of discomfort, if anything her expression darkened in fury, he continued on. “So we’ve been working through the list of dancers that were on shift last night, Raine is the last one of the 8 girls.”  
Hailey frowned and rested against the wall, “it’s not fair on Raine.” Hailey looked up at Dean with a relatively sad smile. “Yeah she enjoys dancing, but she’s only working at Cherry’s to make enough for the three of us. I’m doing a Mechanics internship, no pay till the end of the year, Belle works at the library, it’s her dream job but pays minimum wage, and Raine goes to the local uni and then works the nights. She’s too soft to have to deal with death and all of this crap.”  
Dean took a moment to take in this information. He could almost relate to Raine, taking care of family and having to work harder to provide, he just hoped that Sam and himself could solve this case as fast as they could and move on to the next town, and these girls could move on.  
After a moment's pause, Hailey added “he did have a heavy break up recently, and 3 nights ago he got into a fight with a client, apparently, his girlfriend had been cheating on him with that client, and they showed up to rub it in his face. Or something like that."  
Dean ran a hand through his hair, trying to piece together this complicated puzzle. "You wouldn't have happened to notice anything strange, was he acting weird?"  
Hailey sighed as she slumped slightly. "No, not at all. He was just himself. He would come over Fridays for a cook up, he and Ray would go out on Wednesday to their club-"  
"What club?"  
"It's like their church group or something, Ray doesn't talk about it much." She shrugged, Dean quirked a brow at that and made a mental note.  
"There was really nothing that interesting about Reese." She said, "The only interesting thing about him is that he worked in a strip club and yet couldn't hold his drinks.”  
Dean snickered at that and Hailey couldn’t help but smile at him. Dean was about to ask her some further questions, but they heard a scream from outside.  
Both of them leapt into action, racing down the stairs and Dean followed Hailey as she sprinted out the back door, Raine was crying, calling for help as she held a rake in her hands and was using it to keep Sam at bay, her hands shaking violently, causing the rake to tremor in the air.  
Hailey raced to Raine, slowing down as she got near her and managing to calm her and get her to lower the rake, head hung low and whole body shaking and fighting to breathe.  
"Bubs, breathe, it’s okay, in, out, in, out," Her main goal was to make sure Raine didn’t have an asthma attack. Once Raine had managed to calm down to shaky breaths, Hailey glared up at Sam with fury. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" Dean's eyes seemed to be screaming the same thing at his brother.  
She felt a hand squeeze her arm so tight she winced. She turned back to her terrified friend, struggling to stutter something out, her whole body still shaking as the tears streamed down her face. "Bubs, I can't understand you, please, calm down."  
“Th-They’re-” she choked on her words, and finally looked up to Hailey, as Dean reached his brother and was whispering a quiet ‘What the hell man’ and managed to say, “they’re the Winchesters.”


	2. Chapter 2

Once they had stepped out the door, Raine closed the door to the house with a sigh. The backyard was much the same as the front, the only difference was the washing line near the back fence with a mixture of bright and dark close fluttering in the sun and there was a small little patio with a tiny little barbeque with plastic lounge chairs around it, and a small shed, looking like a miniature version of the house, but the same yellow as the front door.

“Do you mind if we just wander round the garden? I think better on my feet.” Raine asked quietly, and Sam’s attention finally returned back to the smaller girl.  
“Oh sure! Yeah, of course.” Sam said as he gestured for her to lead the way, she bobbed her head politely and set off at a slow pace walking round the path, gently trailing her hand through any leaves that would reach.

They walked in silence for a moment before Sam cleared his throat. “I take it you didn’t actually want me to help you with garden work?” he prompted gently and Raine’s head snapped up to face him. 

“Oh! Yes! I uh-” She fumbled over her words as she looked back down to her hands, she let out a heavy sigh. “Ok, so I’m ashamed to admit this, but…” she took a deep breath in and let it all tumble out.

“Reese and I had been sleeping even since I started the club pretty much. He was kind, I was lonely, he offered me more money, I was broke. Every now and again he’d ask me to stay after work, and he was going to ask me to last night, but he let me go home.” she was blushing to her neck in shame.   
Sam sighed, he could understand her reasoning for it, but lovers were always so much more complicated. 

They’d managed to lap their way around the yard, and Sam gestured for them to sit down, and Raine flopped down, defeated as her hair shielded her face from Sam like a curtain.  
Sam slowly sat next to her, he was about to start reassuring her, but clearly she wasn’t done with her confessions.

“I didn’t know he was with Diana. He never spoke about her to me, never posted about her, there was no way for me to know. We all only found out after the break up.   
He told me she was abusive, manipulative and was making him miserable, and that I made him feel better. He apologised for not telling me, but said he was scared I’d leave him like everyone else in his life. He said he’d understand if I never wanted to be involved with him again. But he looked so broken and sad, and he is… well, was a good guy.” She fiddled with her hands and hunched further over herself, making herself as small as possible. “So I forgave him. I needed the money anyway. But last night was my first shift since the breakup, so I haven’t been with him since.” 

Sam only barely managed to restrain himself was groaning, he could empathise with her, but he was running on no sleep, one meal and this whole witch thing was putting him on edge, partially Dean’s fault for complaining all the time.

“We hung out all the time outside of work-” she was still going, clearly feeling like she had to explain herself to Sam, “Wednesdays and Fridays, he was a swell guy, his mum's the sheriff, she’s a lovely woman. She’d join us for cookouts sometimes. He and his mum would invite us to go on a fishing trip every summer they’ve known us too. We’ve only lived here for 2 years now,” she was rambling, “this house is perfect, the neighbourhood is kind, it’s close enough to all of our jobs that none of us need to travel too far…”   
Then, startling Sam, she started to cry. Sam became flustered and started fretting about how to comfort her. “How will his family think of me when they find out. I was just a skank he paid for sex, and then he died, I could have helped him, maybe if I wasn’t so tired we could have come back together, he could have been safe… it’s all my fault.”

He gently placed his hand on her shoulder, and she faced him with wet trails down her cheeks, barely holding back blubbering sobs. Her eyes looked like a storm at sea. “It’s okay. You’re not at fault. You may have slept with him, but it was consensual and you weren’t aware he had a partner. There is nothing wrong with that. Last night though, you can’t blame yourself for that.” 

She looked up at Sam, and it truly hit sam just how blue her eyes were, they were like an ocean. They were bewitching.

She gave him a half hearted smile, and let her shoulders slump, resting her face into her hands, “thanks Agent Rudd, you’re a really nice guy.” She paused for a moment before hesitantly adding “almost too nice to be in the FBI, what made you choose this career path?”

Sam hesitated, not sure if he should diverge into this conversation path, but Dean hadn’t come out to snoop yet, so surely he was still questioning the other girls, so he figured it couldn’t hurt. Besides, these girls seemed like they could have quite a tight connection to the case, and might be able to give a lead on the other coven members.

“Family business in a way,” Sam started, and he noticed Raine relaxed, she must have been worrying about offending him, that was slightly endearing and Sam couldn’t help the twitch in the corner of his mouth, “Dad sort of raised us in our own family boot camp.” 

He chuckled slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck. He looked upwards, and sheltered under the shade of the house, he could see the lazy clouds floating through the hot summer sky, and he could feel the sweat starting to form on his face, it was way too hot to be wearing a cheap full body suit.

“Us?” she queried, and Sam remembered that he and Dean had different agent names.

“He’s got our fathers, I, our mothers,” He lied smoothly, and that seemed to satisfy her. They lapsed into silence, and Sam started to worry it was getting awkward.

Raine tucked herself into an even tighter ball than before, “You two must have seen some horrible things, huh?” he started at the question, “I can’t even imagine what Reese looked like. Murder…” there was silence for a moment longer before she hissed out with far more venom than Sam would have expected “People can be disgusting.”

Sam was genuinely taken aback, from what he’d been exposed to Raine, he’d already reached the conclusion that she wasn’t a violent person, or an angry one at that. He had almost ruled her out as a suspect, but this sudden aggression made him question if she was just a good actor.

“I don’t understand how you could want to hurt someone enough to inflict serious damage, let alone put an end to their life.” 

Ah. Yeah, nevermind.

Sam quirked a small smile, and carefully placed a hand on her shoulder, and gently squeezed. “Hey, I know it's hard sometimes, like you said, people can be pretty disgusting,” she ducked her head at that, ashamed at the uncharacteristic bout of rage, “but you just need to remember to surround yourself with those that aren’t so gross. You seem to have some pretty good friends.” He nodded his head towards the house and her expression softened as she looked at the door, and Sam could appreciate the feeling of family.

“I guess you’re right,” she sighed and relaxed against the door. “I just wish the world was less cruel. It’s just not fair that some people suffer just because others find it fun or like a twisted game.” She looked to Sam, and there was so much emotion in her eyes Sam had to look away. This girl was intense. He stared at the ground as she continued. “How can you handle it all? The crime, the criminals, let alone having to tell the families.”

Sam sighed yet again, this girl was pretty good at getting him to talk about some pretty deep topics. Yet again he raised his eyes to the sky as the thought about growing up and his childhood.

“You get numb to it, I guess.” He mused as he watched a cloud roll its way lazily through the sky, the winds pushing it along to hurry it on it’s path.  
The two sat in silence for a while, and Sam threw a look over his shoulder at the door, wondering what was taking Dean so long to come out. He checked his watch and realised they’d barely talked for 15 minutes.   
Sam sighed softly and slouched forward, this case was already getting to be a headache. He stared at the ground, watching the ants march around on the clean stone path leading through the garden to the shed at the back, and his mind absently wandered to the thought of living a life like this, getting to leave all the hunting behind and have that normalcy that he seemed to crave so deeply.

Sam was startled by the soft sniffing behind him, and turned to see Raine curled up against the wall, rubbing furiously at her eyes as she started to cry again, Sam was slightly conflicted. He was mildly annoyed at how often this girl needed comfort, but he wasn’t heartless, and part of him ached for her that such an emotional person was going through this sort of torment.

Lacking in comforting things to say, he shuffled closer to her, and hesitantly (and somewhat awkwardly) patted her shoulder.

She threw herself onto his shoulder, the cheap material scratching her cheeks as she cried softly into the sleeve. Sam startled, but stayed still, letting her release the pain and fear and sorrow onto him as he sat, staring at the sky.

“You know, one time when Dean and I were on a case a few years ago,” Sam started, hoping to distract her, “he was on a phone call to our...higher up.” Sam smiled at the idea of calling Bobby a higher up. “I was just sitting back and listening in, but I'd been having some pretty bad luck at the time. I ended up stepping in some gum-” he snorted at the memory, it seeming ridiculous in hindsight. “Anyway, while my brother was on the phone, I tried to scrape it off on a nearby storm drain and-”

“The drain broke and you lost your shoe.” Raine finished, sounding absolutely horrified as she shot to her feet and grabbed the nearest thing to her, a rake that was lying on the floor. “What's your name” She asked with building panic in her tone. 

Sam was still shell shocked at how quickly things had progressed, she had been able to know the ending of his story, her entire aura became threatened and now she was waving a rake at him like he was about to attack her. “Wait hold on a second…”

“Name!” she snapped, her hands beginning to shake. Sam was calm, he was confused, but he had been in far weirder situations. “Look okay, it’s Sam but-”  
He was cut off by her screaming. He was taken aback, confused at how quickly things had turned, and everything went by so quickly that the next moment, Dean and Hailey were out with them and he was still trying to figure out what just happened. He heard Dean scolding them, and then all her heard, was Raine choking out, “They’re the Winchesters.”

~~~  
52 hours earlier  
~~~

The day was miserable, it was unusual for rain this time of year, but it was pouring down. The morning was damp but humid and drains flooded with puddles formed on the sidewalk.

Dean parked the impala, it was quiet and still in the town so all that could be heard was baby’s engine being turned off and the pitter-patter of rain hitting cement and metal.  
As he stuffed his keys in his pocket, he held his hand out to Sam for today’s badge, he flipped it open and gave it a quick once over. “Rudd, huh?” his eyes darted up to his brother in question, and was met with a shrug in reply.

Across the road, red and blue lights flashed as an ambulance, and a cop car parked outside of the Ralphs, with a woman in uniform standing under a black umbrella, chatting to a man in Ralph’s uniform.

The two stepped out of the car and made their way over to who they assumed was the sheriff, "Excuse me," Sam spoke as both Dean and himself pulled out the badges, flashed them and tucked them away. "What happened here?"

The woman looked up at them, the corners of her eyes creased with deep crows feet and dark freckles, she seemed like a happy woman, but now her face was carved into a frown. The man with a ‘managers’ tag, excused himself and disappeared into the building, "There was a murder behind the back of the old Ralphs.” she extended her hand to them, and the boys shook it. “Sheriff Williams, anyway, what’s the Fed's interest in this?”

“Ah, actually, we were on our way to the station to check out the Hannah Murray case.” Dean pitched in, hunching over himself a little as they continued to get rained on.   
The sheriff seemed to finally notice the fact that the boys were getting soaked and quickly ushered them past the police tape and into the Ralphs. It felt weird to walk into the supermarket and it be barren, the boys shivered as the AC made the wet jackets even colder.

The Sheriff gazed out the glass doors seeming to be lost in thought, with trails of water down her face, despite the umbrella. She managed to shake herself out of it and looked to the boys. “Sorry, she was quite close to the family, she was actually dating my son.” She said as she closed her umbrella and rested up against the door. “Her name was Diana Palmer, she was well known around here, always involved in the community.” She said as she lead the boy’s through the the Ralphs so they could see the crime scene from the dry.   
Opening one of the fire exits, they could see from the shelter of the door the scene.

The rain was obnoxiously loud on the tops of the dumpster and while the black body bag that was being zipped up, they caught a glimpse of the girl.

Her eyes had rolled back into her head, her skin was the colour of a hot chocolate, except the warmth had drained from her, and her hair was a curly tangled mess of blood, both dry and wet.   
The thing that really made her stand out was the dark black colour that pouring out of her mouth,nose, tear ducts and ears.   
Something caught Dean’s eye and he went closer to the paramedics, flashed his badge and asked for them to stop.

Sam turned to the sheriff, “you said before she was pretty much beloved by the community?” she nodded, “Do you know if she had any enemies? People who may have wanted to hurt her?”  
The sheriff sighed and pinched her brown as she thought. “I really can't think of anyone, she was a kind girl, always came to church on Sundays, tried to convince my boy to have a better and more respectable career, worked with the school. She was just all and all a good girl.”   
Dean came back over and cleared his throat, “Agent Young, can we talk for a moment?” Sam smiled politely at the sheriff and the two stepped out into the rainy alley.

Dean opened his hand, in his palm lay a small cotton bag, with a 5 pointed star printed on the bag, the pale brown colour stained with black.  
Sam sighed, and the two brothers said at the same time. “Witches.”

"I fucking hate witches." Dean groaned.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam and Dean felt like they got hit in the face with a bucket of ice water. 

Hailey's face was blank, the typical anger that just rested there had faded and she was completely unreadable “Are you sure? Are you really really certain?”

Raine’s tone was stone cold as tears ran down her face. “One hundred percent positive.”

Everything had changed as soon as Raine had uttered those words, and now Hailey was standing in front of the taller bawling girl looking like an angry cat. “GET OUT!” She roared, causing both brothers to take a minor step back. Now that hailey was the one with the rake and it was suddenly a lot more threatening

Hailey would have loved for them to stay, to hear of their adventures, and to get to experience the adrenaline they would feel on their far more intense hunts

The two brothers gave each other a worried look before turning back to the girls.  
"Alright. We'll be leaving," Sam said as he raised his arms in a show of surrender. "Thank you for your time…"

Dean looked beyond miffed. He was confused and angry and didn't understand why they were being shooed out like rats.

The two backed up and stepped through the house, Dean glancing back to see Hailey awkwardly trying to comfort Raine, hugging her close. 

They walked in silence until they sat in the car before Dean groaned and hit his head against the wheel. "What was that about, Sam?" He turned to his brother, his fatigue, confusion and anger bubbling up. "Why did you tell her who we were? In what situation was-"

Sam cut him off with a hard glare. "I didn't. She knew already...somehow." His tone was calm, but the crease in his brow showed he was anything but.

Dean was rendered shocked for a moment, a tense silence in the car before he finally managed to gather his thoughts. "So she was physic then?" Dean said sarcastically, and at the hesitant silence from Sam, Dean's face fell to something more of confusion. “Dude, you can’t be serious? Her?” She was a lot more...emotional than the other physics they had met.

Sam gave his brother a look that spoke more than their words ever could. The two were silent as they walked to the car, unaware of the green eyes staring at them from between the living room curtains.

~~~

Hailey would have loved for them to stay, to hear of their adventures, and to get to experience the adrenaline they would feel on their far more intense hunts. But from the midnight breaks downs, earlier morning screams that Raine would let out, and the hours talking and holding until dawn, she knew that she had to get the boys to leave.

She brought the tall girl inside, bundled her up in blankets and stared longingly out the window as the glossy black car faded away under the sun, before the sobs of her friend brought her back into the room, away from the calling of adventure.

A call to the library, a frantic bus ride home, a hushed argumentative exchange before all three girls settled on the couch as the sun set over the once peaceful suburb, as all girls cuddled together, their worlds changed, and a new adventure huddled over the horizon.

If only they knew then what path lay before them. Maybe they would have made different choices. Maybe then, they wouldn’t have lost what they did.

~~~

Frantic footsteps slammed against the concrete, heavy breathing and the rustle of clothes being flipped around by a body doing actions they were not made for. The shadowy woman cursed at the pencil skirt, too tight round her body to allow her to run properly, the rain matted her hair and cloaked her tears.

She could see in the reflection of the puddles pooling on the ground, that if she just pushed a little further, just ran a little faster, the tantalising lights of the main road, she wouldn’t be harmed there, or at least, she’d be able to call for help.

She flung her hand out, reaching for the safety infront of her, a earratic smile stretch across her face, her eyes wild with fear and mixed with relief as the orange street light brushed her finger tips-

And then suddenly, the world was falling. Why was everything sideways? She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, the rain caressed her cheeks, with a mocking kindness as the hulking black mass before her smiled at her, a smile too wide for their face. 

“There, there.” it hissed, the voice sounding like oil in a pan as its hand crammed its fingers in her mouth, and placed something heavy on her tongue. “I bet this is the feeling they had, hmm?” it hummed, taking pleasure in the panic in her eyes as she tried to move, but her body resisted her pleas, “before you killed them.” it said.

She could feel something thick welling up in her throat, it seemed to soak through her blood, and she could feel it pouring out around the thing in her mouth, and forcing its way up her nose, making her cry it out, tainting her worldview black until she couldn’t see, and finally, it took her hearing, as she gargled and drowned on this thick black substance, and her skin lost all warmth as she lay there, cold.   
And she was alone.

~~~

The next day was strange for Raine. The sudden realisation that what she had seen was real? Was terrible.  
Both her friends were treating it like it never happened or treating her like she was fragile and she hated that. But at least they made an effort to keep her mind distracted.

You see, Raine has no memories of childhood, her brain is cram packed with memories of these boys, of their lives, their disasters, of their several deaths for christ sake.  
When she saw them, a primal part of her brain recognised them, so she was more guarded with them than she would have been normally, but her friends had been helping her, they figured that these dreams were just nightmares, so they wanted to help her see them as such, so she had been suppressing these memories, and ignoring the dreams that she had every night.

“It’s like I’m watching a show,” she would say after every dream, “An awful, gory and surreal show that I am in, just standing inside the TV, viewing it. Forced to watch these people who seem to be alive, and make their own bonds and friendship and watch them grieve for their friends! Sometimes each other!” She would cry, after her screams had woken her friends and brought them into her room.

Then there was the time they discovered Carver Edlund, the girls made fun of her for months. “See? Those nightmares are just your imagination retelling these stories, like a movie!”  
She didn’t have the heart to tell them that the oldest one was only published 5 years ago.

She went to a therapist for it. Some old hack. Told her to 'study her dreams. Write them down and break them into their bare meanings.'

What a load of bull. Witch or not, Raine wasnt stupid, what was the point in writing dreams that were already written.

Besides. Someone was living these lives and...life can't be given meaning.

The ache in her heart was what drove her to her feet, what grabbed her coat, bag and keys and what pushed her to drive off on her bike, the yellow paint glistening in the sun as the engine roared to life.

She only had seconds before the two younger girls would come looking for the source of the noise, so she kicked off from the kerb quickly, ignoring the faint sound of their door opening.

Her eyes were hidden behind the darkened tint of her sunflower helmet, but they were filled with tears and determination as she scoured the streets. Knuckles white inside her gloves.

~~~

It didn't take long. She spotted the impala parked outside Cherry’s, and she parked her bike (a ducati scrambler for any Motor Heads wondering) beside Baby and took off her helmet.  
She placed it down and sighed as she looked up at the painted sign above. They weren’t exactly “downtown neon lights and thumping music” kind of joint.   
They did have blacked out windows though, no one wanted their child curiously glancing in and seeing something they didn’t need to.

The yellow police tape fluttered in the wind, the evening was setting in, and the air was becoming a honeyed gold as she walked around the side of the building, ducking under the tape barricading the alley way. She glanced back to the road, it was quiet as per usual, only a few cars, but everyone was at home for dinner at this time.

She flitted through her keyring, and found the emergency key she had been given from one time when Resse was sick. The back door opened silently, and closed.

As she glanced around the building she felt herself begin to shake.The adrenalin had worn off, and the fear of being alone, at the scene of a murder had finally sunk in. It was dark too, no need to have lights on in a club that no one was in.  
Raine hated the dark.

She stood frozen by the door, shaking slightly as she realised what a big mistake she had made. Her hands grasped tightly at her shirt as she trembled like a leaf in high winds. What was she doing? A murder scene? Alone? This was a crime, not to mention she could die.

The girl let out a quite huff of a laugh. ‘Not like that matters, I always said I wanted to die,’ she joked, trying very hard to cut off her panic before it would begin, ‘besides,’ she thought, as she pushed herself to take a step forward, ‘I got people to live for.’   
Taking that first step felt like breaking a spell, the cold that had been shaking her fell away as she finally took in the stuffy summer air trapped in the building. She was able to notice the lights coming from the bar’s fridge that was always on, and a few of the machines that were still plugged in and causing a faint light.

The place was less terrifying now, more just...eerie. She could do eerie things. She needed answers.

She slowly reached into the ratty satchel at her hip, the itchy fabric with the bumps of embroidered symbols was comforting and grounding, she pulled out a small torch and slowly took in the club.  
It was familiar to her at least, but that didn't make it less uncomfortable.

There were still a few things left over from the investigation, and the police tape had extended itself inside, wrapping around the main dance floor in the room. In the middle, the taped outline from Reese's corpse.

She gripped tight to her bag and her pentagram, steadying her breathing as she slowly walked her way over to the marked ground.  
As she stood above the shape, she felt tears pricking her eyes, sinking down to her knees, she lightly brushed her fingers over the tape.

This tape was something that marked the death of a man. Yes, she could admit that Reese wasn’t the best bloke around town, and that there were many flaws in his behaviours, but he was kind to her. Helping guide an early 19 year old her through the ropes and caring for her and her safety. The past 6 years of friendship had meant a lot to her.

She allowed herself a moment of grief, a few tears falling into a puddle at her hands. She then shook her head and furrowed her brow in concentration.  
She could mourn later. For now, she had a mission.

The club was mostly quiet, only the soft chatter and thumping of the above, probably from the tenants upstairs and in the neighbouring buildings.  
She knew she’d have to work fast, the sooner she was done the sooner she could get out.  
Her hands worked quickly, familiar with years of practice, candles were lit, herbs were set aflame as she sigils she knew were so easily recreated.

She sat back on her heels, glancing down at the ritual she had before her, her hands gripped tightly to her shirt as they began to shake again. This was a spell her coven had taught her, in preparation for moments like this.

Raine raised her hands in front of her, hovering about shoulder height as she let out a shaky breath, mumbling as she slowly lowered her hands to the chest area of the silhouette.  
The candles around her flickered softly as the silence laid thick in the air.

“Reese?” she called, her voice barely above a whisper. Then all of a sudden, the candles flared brightly, and a soft voice filled the air. It was foriegn and familiar all at once, and as soon as she heard it, Raine had to cover her mouth to stop herself from throwing up, her stomach ehaving, as she clutched her stomach tightly, gagging violently as she started to shake again. 

“You shouldn’t be here. Its not safe.” the voice was Reese’s, but also sounded like the static of a radio mixed with mic feedback.

Raine forced herself to swallow the bile rising in her throat, the longer she listened to it the worse she felt. “Reese-” she choked out, relief filling her veins despite the sickness slowly forcing her body to be weaker and weaker. “Reese, who killed you?” she choked out, grasping tightly ather throat, struggling to breathe as the spell took a toll on her.

“You shouldn’t be here. Those Winchester boys are in my office. You don’t have time. Run. You shouldn’t have done this spell yourself.” The crackle made her ears feel like they were bleeding as she heaved for air.

Fuck, she thought they were going to be checking to see if the people next door and seen anything, she didn’t even consider that they were in the same building, how stupid of her. But before she couldn run, she had to get her answer.

“Reese, you have to tell me, I can’t stand the spell much longer-” She cried, the tears running down her face as her nails scratched at her own chest, her body feeling like it was being starved of oxygen.

“It-” The crackle overpowered his voice, the radio blaring in her head so loud she couldn’t help but scream from the pain. The candles around her extinguished themselves and fell to the ground, the molen wax spreading between the cracks in the dance floor and sticking to the white tape, drizzling into the figure, the spills spelling out one word.

“Run.”

The radio noise stopped abruptly, leaving Raine gasping for air, lightheaded as all the pain she felt disappeared from her as soon as the candles were out. But she had more problems to face now, she could hear two sets of footsteps stomping down the stairs and racing towards her, she had to move fast.

She couldn’t pack up her tools, all she could afford to do was grab her bag and torch and run, snapping the tape as she sprinted out the door, hearing Dean’s voice gruffly called out “Who’s there?” Just as the side door slammed shut behind her. 

Her heart was racing in her chest as she threw on her helmet, barely even getting on her bike before it turned on, she glanced into the mirror, seeing the two increasingly familiar figures, standing by their car as she roared off into the distance.

~~~

As soon as Raine got home, she barely even got herself through the door before she fainted in the doorway, the frantic calling of her name and faded vision of shoes were the last things she saw before the exhaustion of the spell took her.  
It took a few hours, before her eyes opened slowly, the light of the sun pouring directly into her eyes and causing her to grunt in discomfort and face away from the window. Her vision was furry as she blinked, eyes unfocused as they wandered.  
She noticed a small bowl on her bedside table, a glass of water next to it and some medicine, she could assume that the girls had left that for her for when she woke. A small smile cracked over her tired face, and it was then she realised just how dry her mouth was.

It was at that moment that Hailey pushed open her door with a soft kick, her hands were full with another bowl presumably to replace the old one, a huge smile appeared on her face as she saw the blue haired girls eyes open, and then it progressed to a deep frown as she rushed forward and slammed the bowl on bedside table (nearly spilling it) as she threw her arms around the taller girl.

Raine let out a soft groan as she felt the weight of the girl on her chest, but hugged her back weakly. ¨You're acting like I died or something,” she laughed, her voice dry and a little more croaky than she would have liked.

Hailey squeezed her tighter, much to Raine´s dismay. ¨you might have! You´ve been out like a light for the past three days, we thought you were in a coma or something!” the smaller girl growled out as her hug got closer to bone crushing than worried-affection.

¨Three days?” Raine gasped as she managed to somehow lever the smaller girl off of her to look at her incredulously, ¨and you guys say that I'm over dramatic.” as she spoke, she reached for the glass of water, desperate to settle the dryness of her mouth.

She took a small sip, but found it hard to swallow at the look on Hailey's face. "Three days?" She whispered, disbelieving.   
Hailey sighed as she stood from the bed with a grumble of anger.

"You're lucky I don't beat your ass. Bebe and I were worried sick about you. You fucken walk in the door, black out, after running away on your bike without a word! No text, no note. Just fuckin gone for nit even a whole ass hour and then you come back in and pass out on the fucking floor?" As the short girl ranted, Raine hung her head in shame. 

She didn't mean to freak out her friends. It wasn't an intentional choice, she just needed answers.   
The flame in Hailey's words dulled as she sighed, walking towards the door. “I gotta go tell beeb’s you're awake, I brought you dinner, don't worry, bee made it not me.” she sighed as she left, leaving Raine alone with her thoughts and guilt at freaking her friends out.

She looked into the bowl, they had clearly been worried, because it was her favourite. She grabbed it softly, cuddling it for a moment.   
It wasn’t until she saw the drops hitting the bowl that she knew she was crying. She hated it. She felt weak, tired, broken and stretched so thin she could snap.   
Raine couldn’t stand how much she had cried in the past few days, well, actually more like past week.   
God, asleep for three days, guess there was a reason behind why she was warned against trying to commune with the dead. 

She stood up and placed the bowl down, her hunger leaving her as she made her way to the window, the soft sound of her feet against the hardwood floor felt deafening as she rested her head against the windowsill, looking out over their quite street, it was sunset, everyone had headed inside tonight apparently, and it left her feeling lonely, and vulnerable.

She knew, realistically, that the peacefulness she felt before wasn’t real. Her mind had tricked her into thinking that only one hunt a month, where Hailey and Bell could disappear for up to a week, but usually, they got back within 3 days, just often bloodied and hurt.   
The coven meetings were something for her to focus on, a way for her to feel like she had some kind of control and safety net if monsters somehow managed to find their way into their home, she would have some kind of a way to defend herself.

But for now...she was useless.


End file.
